Karadzic Absent As Trial Resumes

The genocide and war crimes trial of ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has resumed in The Hague in his absence, a day after it was adjourned. Mr Karadzic is boycotting proceedings, saying he needs more time to prepare his defence. But the court ruled the trial could begin without him.

In opening remarks, prosecutors described him as “supreme commander” of a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Mr Karadzic denies all charges relating to the Bosnian war of the 1990s. Separately, former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic – convicted of war crimes – has been released.

Plavsic was the highest ranking official from the former Yugoslavia to have pleaded guilty for her part in the Bosnian War. She was sentenced in 2003 to 11 years in a Swedish jail.
But a Swedish court has allowed her early release for good behaviour. ‘Hatred and fear’. The prosecution in Mr Karadzic’s trial has now begun to deliver its opening argument, expected to take two days.